Surah Al-Baqarah 2:243-248 - Quran Translation Commentary

243. Did you not observe³⁷⁸ those who abandoned their homes, though they were thousands, for fear of death? Allah said to them: “Die;” Then He restored them to life .³⁷⁹ Verily , Allah is full of bounty to mankind but most of them are ungrateful.

244. And fight in the way of Allah and know that Allah is All-Hearing, Allknowing.³⁸⁰

245. Who is he that will lend to Allah a goodly loan, which Allah may return to him after multiplying manifold ?³⁸¹ Allah causes want and gives plenty³⁸² and to Him shall be your return.³⁸³

246. Did you not observe the chiefs of the Bani Israel³⁸⁴ after Moosa?³⁸⁵ They said to a prophet³⁸⁶ among them: “ Appoint for us a king, that we may fight in the way of Allah.³⁸⁷” He said: “May it not be, if you were commanded to fight that you will not fight?” They said: “How could we refuse to fight in the way of Allah, when we were turned out of our homes and separated from our children?’’ But when they were commanded to fight, they turned back except a few among them. And Allah has full knowledge of the wrong-doers.

247. Their prophet said to them: “Allah has appointed Talut³⁸⁸ (Saul) as king³⁸⁹ over you.” They said: “How is he better entitled to become king over us when we are more worthy than he for kingship. And he is not even gifted with wealth in abundance?” He said: “Allah has chosen him above you and has gifted him abundantly with knowledge and bodily strength.”³⁹⁰ Allah grants His Kingdom to whom He pleases. Allah is Allembracing All-Knowing.³⁹¹

248. And their Prophet said to them : “A sign of his authority is that there shall come to you the Ark, therein is the peace of mind from your Lord, and the relics left by the family of Moosa and family of Haroon carried by angels.³⁹² In this is a symbol for you if you indeed have faith.

Commentary

378. From here again the statement about fighting and spending in the cause of Allah starts, which was first begun in connection with freeing the House of Kaaba from the possession of infidels. In between these, problems were discussed which partained to the conditions then prevailing.

In connection with ‘Jihad’ (fighting in the cause of Allah) a lesson is taught from an incident in the history of Bani Israel.

379, Here a reference is made to an incident from the history of Bani Israel, which is mentioned in Torah – in Samuel-I. In the time of the prophet Samuel (11th Century B.C.) the children of Israel were religiously, morally and politically in a very bad condition. They were under the pressure of their enemies from every direction and they felt that they were unable to withstand these pressures. The Philistines had overwhelmed them and had taken away the Box, which was considered very sacred by them. The Bani Israel had evacuated quite a few of their towns. They suffered this moral death for twenty years. But as a result of the reformist efforts of the prophet Samuel, there was an awakening in these people on the religious, moral and political fronts. They then became able to take back their towns which they had earlier evacuated. The following extracts from S.2 ,,,,,, Dawatul Qur’an 127 the Bible may be seen :

“So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated and they fled, every man to his home; and there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers and the ark of God was captured; (I, Samuel 4-10-11.)

“Samuel said to all the house of Israel, ‘If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ash-taroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve Him only and He will deliver you out of the hands of the Philistines. So Israel put away the Ba’als and the Ash’taroth and they served the Lord only. (I. Samuel. 7-3-4.)

“So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel.’’ (I. Samuel 7. 13 -14)

It appears that in the verse under reference this incident of the Israelis is alluded to. Their religious, moral and political degeneration is called their death and their adoption of honest, righteous and brave determination in the cause of God is termed as life. mentioning this incident here is to persuade men of faith to rise in the cause of Allah. The incident of the children of Israel was concerning the sacred land of Palestine and here the men of faith are being roused for fighting in the cause of Allah concerning the sacred land of Macca. Thus Muslims are being informed that if they fear death, then it will be their religious, moral and political death; and if they fearlessly fight in the cause of Allah, they will be bestowed the grace of real life, and they will gain honour and glory.

380. Therefore He will listen to your appeal and will help you and will also give full reward for your sacrifices.

381. The wealth and property spent in the cause of Allah is likened with giving a loan or lending it to Allah. This is a very effective style, which is used to convey that whatever you will spend in the cause of Allah will remain safe with Him and on the Day of Judgment will be returned to you multiplied manifold. Therefore this bargain does not involve loss but is full of profits. “Quarz-i-Hasan (goodly loan) is a loan which is given with sincerity and kindheartedly with the main purpose of pleasing Allah and it is to be given from one’s own lawful earnings.

382. That is: straitening or narrowing and enlarging or widening the sources of provision is within Allah’s power only and therefore not to spend in the cause of Allah for fear of loss of wealth is not a proper attitude.

383. Therefore, we should worry about the Hereafter where we have to return to answer for our deeds.

384. Here another incident from the history of the children of Israel is being stated, the purpose of which is to give a very important lesson to Muslims about their social and political life.

385. That is about 11 centuries before Christ.

386. Is meant to denote prophet Samuel, who lived in the mountainous region of Palestine called Ephraim. His time is 1100 B.C.

387. At that time a number of the cities of the Children of Israel were in the possession of their enemies. The Israelis therefore wanted to take back their cities by fighting. At that time prophet Samuel had become very old, therefore they requested to appoint a king over them, under whose leadership the war might be waged.

388. In the Bible the name of Talut is mentioned as Saul. He belonged to a small tribe of the Bani Israel known as Ben Yamin and at that time was 30 years old. He was so tall that other people came up to his shoulder.

389. In the text the word used is (Malik), which means a possessor of authority. Here it does not mean an absolute monarch but a man of authority, who would submit to the overall authority of Allah and would use his authority strictly within the limits prescribed by the Shariah. Talut was appointed king by Allah and the declaration for which was made by prophet Samuel. The real purpose of appointing him king was that the children of Israel should fight a Jihad (holy war) under his leadership and take back their lands which were annexed by Amaliqua. It is clear that the appointment of Talut was not merely to rule over the Bani Israel but was for executing the religious duties and therefore this should not be considered as similar to imperialism.’

390. The Children of Israel had raised objections against the appointment of Talut as their king because he belonged to a small tribe which had no influence and he was also not a rich man. This objection was answered by prophet Samuel in this way that the selection was made by Allah, who does not consider wealth and influence the necessary qualifications for leadership but knowledge and power and willingness to do good as the desired qualities for leadership. According to this criterion Talut was the fittest person for the job. At that time the main problem was to fight a war and the need was for a man who would be able to command the soldiers and employ the best tactics. After the appointment of Talut, the successes that followed proved that the selection was most appropriate.

391. That is: Your sight is narrow and your knowledge is limited but Allah’s sight is All- Embracing and His knowledge is without limits and therefore do not compare His decisions with your decisions.

392. The name of this ark or chest or box is mentioned in the Bible as the Ark of the Lord and it had great importance for the children of Israel because it contained the relics of the prophets Moosa and Haroon e.g. the tablets on which were carved the ten commandments, the original copy of the Torah and the staff of Moosa, etc. These things were symbols of victory and glory and by seeing them Israelis were inspired for doing higher things.

In one of their wars, the Philistines had captured this ark from the Israelis, as a result of which the morale of the Israelis had gone very low. Prophet Samuel stated that the token or symbol of Talut (Saul) being appointed by Allah as their king was that they would get back this Ark. So this prophecy came to be true and it so happened that in the region of those who had taken away this ark, epidemics broke out and probably for fear of war they considered it safe to return the ark to the original owners, i.e. Israelis. Accordingly they put the ark in a cart driven by two cows without a driver and left the cows to take the cart with the ark to the region of Bani Israel. This is mentioned in the Bible as follows :

“The man did so and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. And they put the ark of the Lord, on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumours. And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-she-mesh along, one highway, lowing as they went; they turned neither to the right nor to the left and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-she’ mesh. Now the people of Beth-she mesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. (6. 10-13) (Samuel).

The reaching of these cows straight in the region of the Israelis without a driver could not be achieved without the help of the angels and therefore it stated to have been carried by angels.